Mining
Mining is a skill that allows players to obtain ores and gems from rocks. With ores, a player can then either smelt bars and make equipment using the Smithing skill or sell them for profit. Mining is also one of the most popular skills in RuneScape as many players try to earn a profit from the skill. On the map, mining areas are identified with a regular pickaxe icon and the mining shop with a gold pickaxe icon. How to mine to mine ores.]] To mine, a player will first need a pickaxe. Pickaxes are sold by Nurmof in the Dwarven Mines, though new players are given a bronze pickaxe when they complete Tutorial Island. When a player has obtained a pickaxe, they next need to find a mine. Once a mine has been found, the player can then select a rock in the mine and click on it, making them mine the rocks with their pickaxe. As a player is mining a rock, they will eventually obtain an ore (or gemstone). This ore can either be used in the Smithing skill or it can be sold. Selling ores can give players a good profit. Mining is a skill largely based on a player's luck, which is totally random in RuneScape. Luck affects Mining in this way: the player will mine the rock, but when they hit the rock, it might take eight to twenty hits to obtain an ore. Another player may mine the same rock and get an ore in just one hit. Using a pickaxe of a higher metal will allow players to obtain ores faster, though luck still does play a key role. Pickaxes Pickaxes, or 'picks', are needed to mine rocks. They can be equipped as a weapon, giving players some more space in their inventory. However, pickaxes cannot be made using the Smithing skill. Pickaxes be bought from either Nurmof in the Dwarven Mines or Tati in Keldagrim, or from other players. Nurmof's shop in the Dwarven Mines is labelled on the mini-map as a gold pickaxe. A player's Mining level determines the type of pickaxe they can mine with. The higher a level needed to use a pickaxe, the better it is than the ones below it. For example, a rune pickaxe will mine rocks faster than an adamant pickaxe. The prices in the table below are those from Nurmof's shop, when there is only one of that kind of pickaxe in stock. The shop in Keldagrim is slightly more expensive. If a player breaks the pickaxe's head from a rock with smoke coming out of it, then they will have to bring their pickaxe to Nurmof and ask him to fix it, for a price (which is roughly 1/30th of the cost of buying the pickaxe). Mineable items Ores are obtained from the different types of rocks. These rocks can be found in mines. On the mini-map, mines are labelled with a gray pickaxe. The colour of a rock corresponds to the ore's colour, so a black rock will yield coal ore, a blue rock will yield mithril ore, etc. When players click on a rock, they will hit it with their pickaxe and try to get the ore out. The higher level rocks, such as mithril and adamant, take longer for players to mine an ore out of them, making the player require patience. After the ore has been mined, the rock will turn gray for a while. Eventually another ore will respawn and the rock will regain its colour. Players can only mine a rock when ore is available. Ore respawn times differ with the difficulty of the rock. For example, rune rocks can take over 20 minutes to respawn while iron rocks take about 3 seconds. Mine table Mines Misthalin mines * Al-Kharid Mine * Barbarian Village Mine * East Varrock Mine * West Varrock Mine * Edgeville Dungeon Mine * Lumbridge Swamp South-East and South-West mine Asgarnia mines * Asgarnian Ice Caves mine * Crafting Guild Mine * Dwarven Mine * Falador Mine * Motherlode Mine * Mining Guild * Rimmington Mine * Hero's Guild Mine Island mines * Crandor Mine * Karmaja Volcano Mine Wilderness mines * Hobgoblin Mine * Steel Mine * Wilderness Rune Mine * Wilderness Skeleton Mine Others * Keldagrim mines * Fremennik Isles mines * Coal Trucks * Gold & Silver in Tzhaar * Khazard Mine Random events Random events are events that happen at random times. They were introduced to stop autoers, or people who use a program to do their work. Some random events include non-player characters asking players to do a task for them and rewarding them if they are successful or monsters that appear and attack the player. In Mining, there are quite a few random events. Rock golem While mining, a Rock Golem may appear and will begin attacking a player. The combat level of the golem depends on the player's combat level, but it will always be stronger. The Rock Golem's combat level varies from level 14 to 170. The player can either kill it or run away from it. If a player kills a Rock Golem, it can drop ores, stouts, pickaxes, uncut gems or nothing. Exploding rock When a player mines a rock, smoke or gas bubbles may emerge from it. If a player continues mining this rock as this is happening, the rock will explode, dealing minor damage to the player and destroying the head of their pickaxe. To repair it, for a price, players have to bring it to Nurmof, the dwarf who sells pickaxes in the Dwarven Mine. Lost pickaxe head While mining, the player's pickaxe head might fly off. The head will land somewhere nearby, usually 3 to 10 squares away. When this happens, the player has to find the pickaxe head quickly before someone else sees it and grabs it - who might attempt to extort it from them. When the player has found the pickaxe head, they can use it with their handle to put the pickaxe back together. Tips Here are some tips to help a player mine. Power mining Also known as drop mining, this is where a player fills their inventory with ores, drops them all, and repeats. While this method of mining allows players to raise their Mining level quickly, dropping a whole inventory of ores can take some time. Also, by using this method, a player would be missing out on Smithing experience. Some locations useful for drop mining: * Iron - include the Hobgoblin Mine (located in levels 29-31 wilderness) and the Al-Kharid (Scorpion) Mine.Although the Dwarven Mine is not as good, there is much less chance of dying. * The Granite Quarry in the Al-Kharid desert. To save time while using this method, a player can hire runners who take the ore to their bank as payment for running, saving time for the miner. Busy World VS Empty World The rate of ore respawn for each rock is proportional to the number of players logged in that world. This means that the same rock will respawn quicker in a busy world like World 1 or World 2 than it would in a quieter world such as World 127. This is especially important to consider when power mining (see above). For general mining, it is slightly more advisable that players go to a busy trading world such as World 1. Although it has many more people logged in, most are concentrated around trading places such as banks or shops. The number of people mining in that world is likely to be equal to a quieter world, but the rocks will respawn quicker. This is advantageous to miners as they can gather rocks faster. This is especially true in peak times when there are more than 20,000 players logged into Old School RuneScape. Wielding the pickaxe Players are recommended to wield their pickaxe. This way, they'll have more inventory space to allow them to carry more ores. To wield picks players must have the appropriate Attack level, as the pickaxe is considered a weapon. Bronze - 1 Iron - 1 Steel - 5 Mithril - 20 Adamant - 30 Rune - 40 Dragon - 60 Wear light items Players are strongly recommended to wear few items or nothing at all other than their pickaxe. Members are advised to wear the boots of lightness, obtained in the Temple of Ikov, so that their weight is lower. Also, wearing the Spotted Cape or Spottier Cape from the Hunter Skill can be very useful, as well as Penance gloves from the Barbarian Assault mini-game. The Graceful outfit is also reccomended if you have acess to it. Wearing fewer items allows a player to run longer. If they are wearing armour, then their weight would be quite large, making them lose a large amount of energy in a short amount of time. Wilderness mine tips Having a high-level Defence and wearing stronger armour gives players a much stronger defence against pkers that attempt to try their luck for some runite/adamantite/etc. ores. Leather/Dragonhide armour also offers fairly good protection against both magic and meleers. Players could either only bring their pickaxe to the wilderness, or bring full leather, a wooden shield or an anti-dragon shield, and an amulet of defence. Fortunately, if a player dies with all these items, they'll keep their pickaxe, the amulet, and the leather body or an ore, depending on what kind it is. A good portion of food is recommended. Saradomin brew may prove essential in life and death situations, as it gives a 25% Defence bonus, and a 15% Hitpoints boost. Switch Worlds For higher level rocks such as adamantite or runite, it is sometimes faster to switch between servers rather than wait for the rocks to respawn. This is not recommended for any lower level rocks as they respawn much faster. Quests which give Mining experience * Doric's Quest (Non-member) - 1300 experience * Digsite Quest - 15300 experience * Enakhra's Lament - 7000 experience * Between a Rock... - 5000 experience * The Lost Tribe - 3000 experience * Another Slice of H.A.M.- 3000 experience * Heroes Quest - 2575 experience * The Giant Dwarf - 2500 experience * Plague City - 2425 experience Temporary boosts * Dwarven stout - Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing levels by 1 for a short time. Dwarven stouts can be bought in Falador one at a time, or members can buy them in Burthorpe in quantities up to 12, at which point the stock is expended and the player must wait for the shop to restock. They are also a common drop from dwarves, and can be bought in several places in members areas, as well as brewed using the Cooking skill. * Mature dwarven stout - Members only. Drinking this will raise a player's Mining and Smithing by level 2 for a short time. Players receive two mature dwarven stouts as a reward for completing the quest Forgettable Tale..., but they can also be brewed using the Cooking skill. * Dragon pickaxe. Using the special attack will temporarily boost mining by 3 levels. The special uses up 100% of special energy. Special Mining Areas Explained * Coal Trucks - The coal trucks are located west from Camelot and north from Ardougne. There are 18 coal rocks and handy carts for storing coal in. The carts can store 120 at a time and it is also recommended to take 28 coal when leaving as well. There is a quick way or a slow way to get to and from the coal trucks. :Quick Way: With 20 Agility go across the log that is on the east side of the coal trucks. The Camelot teleport spell can also be used for quick access to the Seer's bank :Slow Way: To walk all the way around the lake, past the fishing guild, to Camelot. :Once in Camelot go north-west from Camelot bank and there are more coal trucks in the shed. Remove all the coal and bank, repeating the process until all the ore has been taken. * Mining Guild - In the Mining Guild there are 37 coal and 5 mithril rocks. It is close to a bank but requires quite a bit of walking to get to the bank. Level 60 Mining is required to enter. There is one especially efficient place to mine, in the northeast corner, where there are 6 coal in very close proximity. Mining mithril is not recommended in the guild unless there is no-one else at the rocks. An anvil is available outside of the guild in the North end of the mines. The anvil, in combination with the superheat spell, allows the player to smith the ores they mine. The smithed items can be turned into coins with the high alchemy spell or sold at the nearby shop avoiding trips to the bank.